Making Science Fiction Real: Neoliberalism, Real-Life and Esports in Eve Online
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.4101/jvwr.v10i3.7256Keywords:
EVE Online, esports, metagaming, neoliberalism, competition, science fiction, imaginaries, teleology, Walter Benjmain, capitalism, streaming, magic circleAbstract
In this paper, we argue that EVE Online is a fruitful site for exploring how the representational and political-economic elements of science fiction intersect to exert a sociocultural and political-economic force on the shape and nature of the future-present. EVE has been oft heralded for its economic and sociocultural complexity, and for employing a free market ethos and ethics in its game world. However, we by contrast seek not to consider how EVE reflects our contemporary world, but rather how our contemporary neoliberal milieu reflects EVE. We explore how EVE works to make its world of neoliberal markets and borderline anarcho-capitalism manifest through the political economic and sociocultural assemblages mobilized beyond the game. We explore the deep intertwining of